DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN PERIPHERAL TCRBJ GENE REPERTOIRE

Previous studies of TCRBJ gene repertoires of human peripheral T lymph ocytes showed that all TCRBV family transcripts had some common featur es in BJ gene usage, and nevertheless, transcripts of each BV family g ene had a distinct pattern, To discern how the development of the peri pheral BJ repertoire is controlled, the effects of preferential BJ gen e rearrangement, thymic selection, and peripheral stimulation on the r epertoire formation were investigated, A PCR-ELISA technique was used to examine the immature CD3(-)CD4(+)CD8(-), and mature CD3(+)CD4(+)CD8 (-) and CD3(+)CD4(-)CD8(+) thymocytes, and peripheral CD4(+) and CD8() T lymphocytes for their BJ gene repertoires. Analogous to the periph eral repertoire, the BJ gene repertoires of the immature thymocytes di splayed common features, and each BV transcript had a distinct pattern . All features were conserved well by those of mature thymocytes and p eripheral T lymphocytes. In addition, the BJ gene repertoires of matur e CD4 and CD8 thymocytes and peripheral lymphocytes with the same core ceptors were apparently different in a few BV-BJ combinations. The res ults showed that the overall BJ gene repertoire pattern was developed before antigenic selection. Thus, the preferential BJ gene expression, primarily based on preferential use of certain BJ gene rearrangements , dictates the peripheral BJ gene repertoire, which is theta further m odified by thymic selection and peripheral stimulation.